I. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to utility meter reading and, more particularly, to electronic automated meter reading ("AMR") systems for reading utility meters.
II. Description of the Prior Art
Various buildings will typically be equipped with utility meters (e.g., gas, water, electric) to monitor the consumption of the particular utility within that building. In order for the utility company to bill for that consumption, the utility meter must be read periodically. Traditionally, utility meters have been read manually by a meter reader physically viewing the dial indicators on the meter face and writing that meter usage data or information on a tracking card or the like. The tracking card would then be turned into the utility which would enter the data into a billing system for subsequent client billing. All of the effort necessary to thus read several meters represents a fairly significant labor cost, creates a risk of error in the meter reading process, and exposes meter readers to risks on the job.
Significant improvements to the process of meter reading have been made, primarily to automate the meter reading and data entry phase. To this end, various systems have been developed in which the meter usage data is read electronically into a recording device which may then be connected to the billing system for automatic downloading and subsequent client billing. By way of example, a utility meter is equipped with an electrically readable register coupled to an electric access point by which to establish electronic communication with a recording device. Such systems are known in the industry as automated meter reading or AMR systems.
One AMR system marketed by Sensus Technologies, Inc., of Uniontown, Pa., is known as the TouchRead system. In that system, the electric register on the meter is coupled via a communication cable (e.g., a pair of wires) to a touch pad located either on an exterior wall of the building or perhaps on a lid cover of an underground pit or vault. The meter reader employs a portable electronic meter interrogating device equipped with a coupler that may be physically mated against the touch pad. When so mated, the interrogating device generates signals via the coupler and touch pad to power and interrogate the register and receive back therefrom meter usage data for that meter. The data is stored in the interrogation device for subsequent use by the utility billing system. The TouchRead system is described in greater detail in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,758,836 and 4,652,877, the disclosures of both of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entireties.
Other AMR systems are also available, such as the Sensus Technologies' RadioRead and PhonRead systems. In the RadioRead system, the electric access point is a radio transceiver coupled to the register. The interrogating device employs a second radio transceiver adapted to selectively communicate with the meter transceiver to obtain meter usage data therefrom such as described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,438,329, the disclosure of which is also incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. Similarly, the electric access point in the PhonRead system is provided by a meter interface unit ("MIU") at the building which is coupled to the meter register and a telephone line servicing the building. The interrogating device may be a remote computer or data processor which may be contacted via a telephone link to the MIU to obtain the meter usage data. Details of the PhonRead system are provided in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,434,911 and 5,454,031, the disclosures of both of which in their entireties are incorporated herein by reference.
Notwithstanding significant improvements in cost efficiencies and the like which the AMR systems bring to the field of utility meter reading, they still suffer from the drawback that the interrogation device must establish electronic communication with each meter access point and disconnect therefrom before the interrogation device may communicate with the next meter. Thus, for example, with the TouchRead system, the meter reader must mate the coupler of the interrogation device with the touch pad for a first meter, obtain the meter usage data for that meter, disconnect from the touch pad, re-mate with another touch pad for a second meter, obtain the meter usage data, and disconnect, and so on, one by one until the meter usage data from a selected plurality of meters has been obtained. The same one-by-one sequencing of connect, read, disconnect for each meter is also characteristic of other AMR systems such as the PhonRead and RadioRead systems. Thus, while AMR systems reduce labor costs, errors and exposure risks, further reduction is desired.